Cut Down
by Capital WHY
Summary: Twinleafshipping, One-Shot. Childhood memories don't always last, and things change . . .


**A/n: Don't own pokemon.**

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There used to be a very large tree near the shores of Lake Verity. It was quite popular with the children who would visit. They would have races to the top. On the trunk were names scratched in, mostly by teens or young adults caught in the magic of young love. However, sometimes, older people would come by as well and do it as well. Soon, it was so covered in all sorts of initials and names that a kid could learn their A-B-C's simply with a bit of tutoring and the help of that old, tall tree.

Barry and Dawn knew the tree well. A good deal of their childhood had been spent up, under, or around it. Something happened there, when they were younger, that they mostly forgot about as they aged.

"_Hey Dawn! I thought I'd find you here." She was having a tea-party with her stuffed skitty and stuffed pikachu underneath the tree. _

"_Oh, hi Barry! You're just in time for tea."_

_The boy viewed the scene in disdain. "N-no thanks. Boys don't go to tea-parties."_

_She pouted. "Why not? C'mon, please?" _

_He sighed."Okay, okay, but if you make me get in dress-up clothes I'll fine you a bajillion dollars, so there." He stuck his tongue out for good measure._

_Dawn giggled. "Here, you can sit down by Mr. Shocky." Barry obeyed and sat in between Dawn and the stuffed pikachu._

"_So Dawn, guess what I-" _

"_Hang on a second, Barry. Do you want lemon tea or green tea?"_

"_It's just water, silly!"_

_She rolled her eyes. "Just pretend!"_

"_Ugh, fine, lemon." _

_She poured some water into a little tea cup and handed it to him. "There you are, Mr. Barry," she chimed in a fake accent. "Now what were you going to say?" _

"_What's with the funny voice? Oh, never mind that! I wanted to show you what my dad got me before he left this week!" He pulled something out of his pocket. "It's a pocket knife! Dad says since I'm seven now I can have my own. Then Mom gave him a funny look and pulled him over and they started talking a lot." He pulled out the blade to show her. "See? Cool, huh?"_

"_Wow! It looks sharp, don't hurt yourself!" _

_He laughed. "Oh, c'mon Dawn. I'm a professional. I've already had it for three days and I've only cut myself twice." He showed her the band-aids on his left hand. She looked deeply at the little knife, then to the tree. _

"_Hey Barry," she murmured. _

"_What?" _

"_You know how there are a lot of names all over the tree?"_

"_Yeah?" He was quite busy whittling at a stick he'd found, and was only half paying attention._

_She smiled at him brightly. "Can you carve our names in there?"_

"_Huh?" He looked up in thought. "Eh, can't be that hard!" The two rose and got close to the large trunk. Barry frowned. "There's not a lot of space, though," he deduced after careful inspection. _

"_Oh, how about right here?" Dawn pointed to a place down low, where there were no names._

"_Okay, sure." The boy began carefully carving first his own name, then Dawn's. "Well, there it is! Looks nice, huh?"_

_Dawn studied it. "It's not done yet, silly. You forgot the little plus sign between our names."_

"_Why is there a plus sign anyways?" he asked as he added it._

"_I dunno."_

"_Okay, there. Good now?" _

"_Mm, no, not yet. It needs a heart around it."_

"_What?" The boy was incredulous. "But hearts are only for Valentine's Day and gross mushy stuff like that."_

"_But Barry," Dawn complained, "the other names have hearts!"_

"_Oh, fine." He carved a heart around their names. "Happy now?" _

_She grinned. "Yup! You're really good with that knife."_

"_Yeah, I didn't even cut myself this time!"_

_She giggled. "C'mon, Mr. Shocky and Ms. Fluffy are gonna wonder where we've been."_

_As they walked back, Barry asked, "Hey Dawn?"_

"_Yeah Barry?" she replied. _

"_Can Mr. Shocky have a battle with Ms. Fluffy?"_

"_What? Of course not!" _

"_Aw, tea-parties are so boring."_

The two had forgotten that moment as they got older. They eventually became trainers, and went their separate ways. But they were still close. They had thought, when they were younger, that nothing would ever draw them apart. It was a nice thought while it lasted.

"_I can't stand it when you do that, Barry!" she snapped angrily._

_Foolishly, the boy decided to push it farther. "What, when I win?" he said smugly._

_Her eyes began to tear up. "Do you always have to be better than me? At everything? For one brief, shining moment, I was the best trainer in Sinnoh. Did you really have to take that away from me so quickly?"_

"_Did you want me to lose on purpose or something?" he scoffed. He didn't get it. He was SUPPOSED to challenge her and give it his all. How was he in the wrong here?_

"_Everyone knows you're a better trainer than me, Barry. What I'm saying is that you didn't have to challenge me the day after I finally got the title."_

_Unsure of what to say, he simply shrugged. She couldn't take it anymore and stormed away, leaving him in guilt and confusion._

Barry wandered through the tall grass, making his way to his childhood home; that tree he and Dawn had been so fond of. He felt slow and purposeless today, like nothing mattered.

When he got there, two things struck him at once. The first: there was Dawn! The second: the tree was gone!

He kept his slow pace and stopped beside his childhood friend. The two stared at the empty space.

"W-what happened?" Barry murmured sadly.

Dawn sighed, eyes still glued to the pitiful stump of what had been. "Some rich people bought a plot of land here and had a lake-side house built. They decided the tree was blocking their view, so they had it cut down . . ."

He looked over at her. "Dawn . . . I want you to know something." She had no response for him but a glance in his direction. "I felt bad . . . y-you deserved the title."

"No I didn't! You won and I was just being-"

"No, listen. I got to use a full restore, remember? And you didn't have any healing items with you. You would've won."

"I think that's too close to call, Barry."

"But it still didn't feel right. So I relinquished my title."

"You what?"

"Congrats, you're now the Pokemon Master of Sinnoh!" He smiled at her charmingly.

"Listen, Barry, I don't get the title since I lost to you. I'd have to battle the elite four all over again first."

"Then who gets it?"

"The next person down, that'd be- Lucas!" After coming to that realization, they both laughed at their foolishness. Once they stopped, Barry broke the silence.

"You know, it's a shame, about the tree."

"It sure is . . . I'll bet our names are on the part that got cut off, too."

Barry blushed. "Oh, I forgot about that." Instantaneously, he knelt down to look at the bottom. "No, look!"

In a somewhat messy manner, there was a large heart, inside of which read: 'Barry + Dawn'.

Dawn got down to look as well. The teens smiled at their childhood naivete, then met each other's gaze. Barry quickly turned red and looked away. Dawn took his hand, and the two of them sat on the old trunk together.

"You know, I'll miss the old tree," she mused while letting her fingers interlock with Barry's.

He looked at her, smiling. "You know, it's not all bad. I mean, they didn't cut out our names." Her eyes glided over to his.

"You're right." She got very close to him, and he felt his face radiate warmth. "Hey, Barry . . ." she whispered.

"Yeah?" he breathed.

She grinned mischievously. "Wanna battle, fairly, right here?"

He cocked in eyebrow. "What? If we battled, we'd ruin the tea-party!"

She tilted her head in confusion before laughing cheerily. Getting to her feet, she pulled Barry off the trunk to a more open space.

"Oh, c'mon. Tea-parties are boring!"

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**A/n **Well? Cute? ^_^ Please review, even if it's just a word, I don't mind.

Finessefully,

X


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